Joseph edwaeds



Patented Feb. 2 l, I899.

EDWARDS. DUMPING DOOR FOR DREDGING VESSELS.

(Application filed May 16, was.

(No Model.)

/N VE N 70/? ATTORNEY.

THE Nonms PETERS u FfiOTO-UTNO" wAsmNr-Tom n. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE;

JOSEPH EDWARDS, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

DUMPlNG-DOOR FOR DREDGING VESSELS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 619,737, dated February21 1899.

Application filed May 16, 1898. Serial No. 680,768. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known thatI, JOSEPH EDWARDS, a citizen of the United States,residing in the borough of Brooklyn, in the city and State of New York,have invented a new and useful Improvement in Dumping-Doors for Drecging Vessels, of which the following is a speci fication.

My invention relates to improvements in the method of constructing,operating, rendering tight, and holding dumping-doors of selfcontainingdredging vessels, especially selfcontaining dredging-steamers. Suchdoors, especially when fine sand is the material being dredged, need tobe very tightly closed and provided with means of forcing them open, aswell as for closing and holding them, as they will not open withoutbeing forced down, owing to the impacted condition of the wet sand,which of itself will not move and cuts off atmospheric pressure. Apatent for this purpose was granted to meAugust 6,1889,

No. 408,298; but I have found by experience that the method of operatingsuch doors under this patent takes too much time and that the doors donot close sufficiently tight.

The object of my improvement as herein specified and claimed is toovercome these objections, which I accomplish by mechanism illustratedin the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1, referring to thevessel, is a transverse section; and Fig. 2, a longitudinal section anda reverse view of Fig. 1.

Similar designating-letters refer to similar parts in both views.

A represents the timber-work of the bottom of the vessel; B B, theslanting sides of the lower part of the vessels carrying-bins,whichconverge and form a tapering discharginghopper, at the bottom of whichis located the dump-door F; O, a heavy quadrangular doorframe secured tothe framework of the vessel within the mouth of the said hopper, againstthe bottom face of which the swinging door is fitted and strikes D D,anadjustable hinge, (of which two or more are provided for each door,) thefixed or immovable part of this hinge D being provided with an oval oroblong hole cl, in which the pin (1' of the hinge can move up and down;E E, a suitable endless strip of elastic rubber slotted into the lowerface of the door-frame C to form a yielding sand and water tight packingbetween the door and its frame 0; G G, the deck of the vessel; H, acog-wheel; J, an operating-arm fastened to the shaft K, on which ismounted the said cog-wheel; L, a pinion which fits into and rotates thesaid cog-wheel; M, a ratchet-wheel secured to the face of the saidpinion; N, a pawl which holds the said ratchet-wheel; O, a hand-wheelconnected with and by which the pinion is rotated; P, the frame on whichis mounted the cog-wheel and pinion; R, a connecting-rod which connectsthe swinging door F to the operating-arm J.

Having pointed out the various parts of my device, I will now explainits operation.

The dumping-door, as illustrated in the drawings, is in a closedposition. To open it, it is only necessary to remove the pawl N from theratchet-wheel M and turn the handwheel 0 to the left, which rotates thepinion L and turns the cog-wheel H to the right, which throws theoperating-arm J downward, and depress the connecting-rod R, which willforce open the dumping-door F. To now close the dum pin g-door, it isonly required to place the pawl in position on the ratchet-wheel andreversely turn the hand-wheelthat is, to the right-which will close thedoor.

. It will be seen that if the hinges of the door were of ordinaryconstructionthat is, not provided with the oblong hole d, (see Fig. 1)-the hinged side of the door could not be drawn up to compress theelastic packings E E; but the hinge constructed as shown allows allsides of the door a sufficient vertical motion to properly compress theelastic packing.

I am aware that swinging dump-doors have been employed and operated by aconnectingrod Worked by an additional sliding rod, as shown in PatentNo. 408,298, granted to me August 6, 1889. Therefore I do not claim,broadly, a swinging dumping-door operated by a connecting-rod.

What I claim as new and useful, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is-- In a dredging vessel, a swinging dump-door havingvertically-adjustable hinges and elastic packing between the said doorand its seat I and hold the same, substantially as and for incombination with a vertical connecting-rod the purpose described. andacog-wheel having a projecting arm and J a motor-pinion and hand-Wheel,whereby the JOS E1 H EDVARDS' 5 rotating of the hand-Wheel in onedirection \/Vitnesses:

will force open the said door, and if rotated z MAYBURY WV. BIRCH, inthe opposite direction will tightly close HENRY J. SAVAGE.

